Yummy Fabrics :-)

I'm starting a new pattern test for Tammy Silvers and love the fabrics I'll be using.

You can see a smidgen of the pattern below, but I'll be able to show the whole thing very soon. 

I'm off to make some pretty awesome stars. I'll be back soon with more pictures. :-) 

A Finish and Design Wall Monday

Do you remember these fabrics that I was using for some secret sewing?

I used them to test Tammy Silvers' (Tamarinis) Where My Heart Is pattern.

I finished the top and am very happy with the results. (Someone asked me about the center fabric, but I didn't have the information with me to check. It is Woodland Daisy, a Michael Miller Fabric. 

I had commitments that took me away from home (and my sewing machine), so I couldn't work on this for over a week. I was chomping at the bit because I already knew exactly how I was going to do the quilting and I really wanted to get this done. 

The quilting is very simple and although the pattern suggests that the binding be the dark green, I opted for the orange Dot Grunge. 

The pattern includes instructions for three size options:

Wall Hanging - 22" x 39" 

Large Wall Hanging - 44" x 46" 

Lap Quilt - 44" x 61". 

I made the small wall hanging, but I think I'm not going to use it as a wall hanging, but as a table runner instead. It's a great size, so it can be used as either one!   

As with all of Tammy's patterns, this is well-written and includes really good cutting instructions and awesome diagrams. This will be available in Tammy's shop very soon. I'll let you know when that happens. :-) 

Here's what's on the design wall today!

This is the beginning of my version of Bonnie Hunter's Idaho Square Dance. A couple of friends and I went to Bedford, PA to take a class with Bonnie last year (Aug., 2018) and we had a very productive time. Check out this video that Bonnie made of the workshop. :-)  

I have had all of my log cabin blocks completed for quite some time, but I got sidetracked and put away from Idaho Square Dance blocks. I needed to do something for a demo at Chestnut Ridge Sewing recently and decided these blocks would be perfect. 

I have most, if not all, of the units just about ready to complete the blocks so I decided to put this on the design wall and get busy. I do have other projects that need completed, but this will be my leader/ender project and that means that the blocks will completed in no time at all. 

Bonnie just announced the colors for her new mystery quilt and I really feel like I should make some headway on this quilt before I even consider starting that one.  :-)

What are you creating today?

Check out some quilters eye candy at 

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and

Beth's Monday Making

Color Challenge - November

It's time for the November Color Challenge and just like all the other months, this is a beauty, especially since this flower is one of my absolute favorites!

To play along, go to Jen's blog for the block pattern and instructions. 

You won't be disappointed!

November - Yellow - Black Eyed Susan

Black Eyed Susans are said to symbolize encouragement and motivation. 

So how did this flower become known as "Black Eyed Susan?"

No one knows for sure, but legend has it that it all comes from an Old English poem of the post-Elizabethan era, written by John Gay (1685-1732). 

All in the downs, the fleet was moored,

Banners waving in the wind.

When Black-Eyed Susan came aboard,

and eyed the burly men.

"Tell me ye sailors, tell me true

Does my Sweet William sail with you?"

There are several stanzas, explaining that her William was on board, "high upon the yardarm", and quickly scrambled down for a fond farewell with his lady love. It seems he was off to the high seas, but promised ardently to be safe and true:

Though battle call me from thy arms
Let not my pretty Susan mourn;
Though cannons roar, yet safe from harms
William shall to his Dear return.
Love turns aside the balls that round me fly
Lest precious tears should drop from Susan's eye.

It certain seems like William has motivation to return safely to Susan, and he is encouraging her to be strong in his absence. I like this poem!

While it appears that the British may have appreciated this beautiful flower first, it has become a popular garden flower here "across the pond." Due to its gold and black colors, matching the coat of arms of Lord Baltimore, the Black Eyed Susan became Maryland's state flower. 

The flower is still revered today. The winners of the Preakness (an American flat thoroughbred horse race held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland) are awarded a robe of Black Eyed Susans instead of a horseshoe of roses.

War of Will, 2019 Preakness winner
Photo from the Washington Post 6/4/19

Back to the challenge - 

Here are my fabrics - a solid light yellow from my stash and a fat quarter of Sunshine Starlet from Blank Quilting. (I've been using fat quarters from the Starlet line for each month and I'm still happy with my choice.) I'm thrilled that I've been able to use stash fabric for my solid every single month! 

I love to see all the units of a block sewn together and ready to be laid out and sewn together to create a finished block. It motivates me to sew. :-) This month is simple - half square triangles and squares!

The completed block! As usual, I just love how the Starlet fabric sparkles. 

Just like every other month, I've sewn the original block plus a second block that has the opposite or different fabric placement. 

It's a subtle difference this month, but it can make a big difference in a final quilt layout.

Check out these other bloggers who made blocks this month, and be sure to come back to see what we create next month! 

Patterns By Jen

Sewing with Katie

Kathy's Kwilts and more

Tuning My heart Quilts

The Quilted Diary 

Revisiting Some Old Favorites

I was looking through some quilt pictures earlier today and found some old favorites. They make me smile.

I made this one for the 2017 Modern Quilt Guild Fabric Challenge. Here's a link to my post about it. 

I liked this quilt and picture so much that I made it the background on my computer.  :-)

This quilt was made for a Christmas in July Blog Hop and Quilt Along hosted by Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Here's the link to my post. 

And this wall hanging was made for the American Honor Contest, hosted by Blank Quilting Corporations. I was thrilled to win second place. Check out more info about that HERE.  

These are just three of my favorites. There are so many more, and I could seriously spend hours just looking at quilt pictures. Since I have work to do, I guess it was a good thing that I found what I was looking for pretty quickly. 

I'd love to see some of your favorites!

Secret Sewing

It's been a very busy month for me, but I did get some sewing done. Unfortunately, I can't share most of it with you just yet.

I've used these fabrics for a pattern test for Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis. 

I fell in love with these fabrics and new that they would be perfect for the wall hanging pattern.

Here are a couple of "in progress" photos that I can share.
There are four of these Flying Geese units.  

There are also some Fan units.

I've finished the wall hanging top and Tammy will be releasing the pattern soon. That means that I will be able to share the finished project as soon as I get it quilted and bound.

I'm finishing up a table runner and pattern for a shop and will be able to share that soon too. Stay tuned... 

Color Challenge - October

It's time for the October Color Challenge and just like all the other months, this is a beauty!

To play along, go to Jen's blog for the block pattern and instructions. 

You won't be disappointed!

October - Rose - Red

One of the most universal of all symbols, the red rose represents true love. They convey deep emotions - be it love, longing or desire. They can also be used to convey respect, admiration, or devotion; and a deep red rose can be used to convey heartfelt regret and sorry. 

Unbeknownst to many, the red rose also has appeared throughout history as both a political and religious symbol. Regarding politics, the red rose has been associated with socialism since the 1880's; and to this day, it is often associated with groups that are searching for social reform. In terms of religion, all roses symbolize God's love at work in the world; but different rose colors are associated with different spiritual concepts. The red rose means passion and sacrifice. 

The red rose is an unmistakable expression of love and the number of red roses has special romantic meanings associated with them. As most of us already know, twelve red roses is the most popular of all, which conveys "Be mine" and "I love you." But, did you know that 22 red roses mean togetherness or luck? To see the meaning of giving specific number of red roses, check out this link. It's kind of fun to read.  :-)

https://www.serenataflowers.com/pollennation/meaning-roses-1-to-100-roses/

Back to the challenge - 

Here are my fabrics - a solid light red (pink) from my stash and a fat quarter of Red Starlet from Blank Quilting. (I've been using fat quarters from the Starlet line for each month and I'm still happy with my choice.) 

I love to see all the units of a block sewn together and ready to be laid out and sewn together to create a finished block. It motivates me to sew. :-) 

The completed block! I love how the Starlet fabric sparkles. 

As I've been doing each month, I sew the original block plus a second block that has the opposite or different fabric placement. 

It never ceases to amaze me how different a block or quilt looks when you change the fabric. 

Check out these other bloggers who made blocks this month and be sure to come back to see what we create next month! I'm having some issues linking to the bloggers, so be sure to go to Jen's blog and link from there. 

-->Patterns By Jen

-->Bear Paw Stitch & Design

-->Two Maker Chicks

-->The Quilted Diary

-->Kentucky Whittaker Creations

-->PamelaQuilts

Project Catch Up Time

I've been quite bad at posting lately, but in my defense, I have been very busy.

In my last post, I shared some sneak peeks of a secret sewing project that I was quilting. It's all done and I can now share it.

Ancient Words - a Rachel Rossi design

I think this is such a unique quilt and was thrilled when I saw the invite to test the pattern. As with most of her patterns, Rachel has provided multiple size options with the pattern; but based on my schedule, I knew that making the baby size was the best choice for me.  

There are a multitude of different layout options with this quilt and I played quite a while before deciding on this one. 

There are special templates used to make this quilt and they are wonderful!

The Shorthand Templates are available in Rachel's shop. (There is a free pattern to go along with the templates and I think it's really neat!)

I love taking photos from a side angle! I think it often shows the quilting so much better, as well as the overall design.

While taking these pictures, my granddaughter thought that the top right looks like a turtle. I didn't see it until after I pulled up the pictures on the computer. 

The quilting design was pretty simple and straight forward. 

Another pattern tester used the templates to create her quilting design and as much as I tried, I couldn't come up with anything that I liked better. :-) This isn't the greatest pictures, but I think you can see the quilting pretty well. 

I wasn't sure about my fabric choices during the early stages of constructing this quilt. I was worried that there wasn't enough contrast, but I stayed with it and am glad I did. 

During the time I worried about my fabric choices, I decided that I needed a Plan B, just in case the original fabrics didn't work. I played with some fabric scraps that I had from making a t-shirt quilt and liked how they looked, so I made a bunch more. (After making a few more of the original blocks, I decided that the fabrics would be ok, so I stuck with those for the test.) I have a nice pile of Plan B blocks waiting to be put together. :-)

While I was making the Plan B blocks, I got to thinking that it would look really cool to add a small flange to the inside of the blocks. 

I really liked the result so after I finished the original quilt, I started making these as a leader/ender project. (Yes, the blocks without the flange got set aside, but I will do something with them soon.)

Using all the fabric I had left, I was able to make a decent size wall hanging with the flanged blocks. It's already quilted; and I've machine stitched the binding down and am ready to flip it to the back and stitch it down. I'll take pictures when that's done and share them here. :-)